On every link a heart does dangle; or, OwedThe town of Thebes on the banks of the Mississippi River was once the jewel of Southern Illinois, but drought and blight have decimated their food stores, pregnant women are suffering mysterious deaths, and the town’s leader has locked himself away, leaving the residents to cast about for answers. Suspicion falls on Mellie, a young woman despised from birth by the gods and barely tolerated by the rest of town. But might she hold the key to redemption? (5 women, 1-2 men or 1 man, 1 gender non-binary)

Fault & FoldThe lives of two sets of siblings–a brother and sister in Iowa and a brother and sister in Afghanistan–become intertwined following an act of violence. Now if they want to move on, they have to find the ways to bridge the distances between one another, a journey that will cross continents and culture and delve deep into the earth. (3 women, 2 men)

Down in the face of God Life for the kids of Thebes, Illinois, is a predetermined sort of thing: short with a bloody end, so when a new kid shows up in town with no regard for curses and gods he threatens to turn the old order on its head. But just what brought him to town and the destruction that follows could overthrow a lot more. (5 women, 3 men)

”We declare you a terrorist…”Years after being held hostage in a Moscow theater by terrorists demanding an end to Russia’s war in Chechnya, one man is still haunted by the relationships he made during the crisis and unable to move past the tragic events that surrounded the siege’s conclusion. In a desperate attempt to understand where he and his country have come to he attempts to sneak into Chechnya only to be captured by Russian agents and suspected of being a terrorist himself. All alone in an interrogation room on the Russian frontier he is forced to confront just what happened during those sixty hours in 2002. (2 men, 2 women)

The Secret History of Caleb Caan It’s 1993, and if the city of St. Louis isn’t swallowed by the rising floodwaters surrounding it, it will mostly likely be burned to the ground by the encroaching Mongol hordes currently riding across the Great Plains. Caleb Caan takes this as the perfect cue to get out of the city and rediscover the life he’s lost. (3 men, 2 women)

Santa Ana Winds The lives of five drifters come crashing together as one man tries to escape his past in the Southern California desert. (2 men, 3 women)

11 Hills of San Francisco Kansas City to San Francisco and all the land in between. All the mountains, all the space, all the people, and all the faces. Can you cross the desert, or do you carry it with you? What does it take to cross that expanse? What does it take to make it? (5 men, 3 women)

Peloponnesus The Southern Illinois towns of New Athens and Sparta share a lot of history. When New Athens native Tom returns after years of running away from his past and gets involved with Rachel, a Sparta girl with quite a past of her own, everyone begins to understand just how unrelenting history can be. (4 men, 3 women)

G-Men!Dateline: 1956, The Big City! Spcl. Asst. Deputy Director Norman and his crackerjack agents are on the trail of a mad, dress-wearing bomber who’s blowing up ladies’ clothing stores. Led by no less than J. Edgar himself, our heroes brave a world full of liberals and commies and foreigners-Oh my! They banter, they quip, they defy time & space and rewrite history. They are…G-Men! (6 actors, flexible casting)

Department of the InteriorAgent Mark Rollins has kept the Department of the Interior running through good times and bad, lean times and fat, school days and federal holidays. But now he faces his greatest challenge ever, a nosy president and an American public who’s never even heard of his department. (a cast of thousands, assuming you have a giant audience)

Marshal South Is Out Of His Mind, a puppet playIn 1930, Marshal South packed up his life and moved with his wife Tanya to the desert east of San Diego in order to begin a utopian life homesteading atop Ghost Mountain. This is the historically inaccurate history of what happened, as performed by a puppet cast as big as expansive as the Salton Sea.

In the Garden of the Gods Get off the interstate in Eastern Colorado. Try stopping. Shut off the car. Get out and walk around. Forget you have the keys. Forget the tank has fuel… And wait for someone to pass. Will someone pass? If someone does pass, do they stop? And if they stop, what do you say? (1 woman)